Having a business where I sell digital products and ecourses, I obviously have a lot of digital files. I’ve always stressed out that one of my laptops will die (one of them is 4.5 years old so it’s probably only a matter of time), or one of my hard-drives corrupts, or if the apartment burns down (I know this one’s a little extreme but it’s a thought that crosses everyone’s mind – that’s why we insure our homes!), so I decided to invest in cloud storage. Cloud storage is also a great way to backup important personal documents such as copies of your birth certificate, past years tax returns, receipts, photos etc.

There are numerous online cloud storage providers which offer secure storage and automatic backups for all of your files. After doing a fair bit of research between various companies, I ended up choosing Backblaze:

Here are some of the reasons I chose BackBlaze:

• Videos, photos, word documents, excel documents, jpg files – any type of file can be backed up
• It backs up your computer AND hard-drives you have plugged into your computer
• It doesn’t slow down your computer (I don’t even notice it’s there)
• It’s extremely affordable at only $55USD for an entire year (or $5/month if you want to pay month by month or $95 for a 2 year plan) – for my peace of mind and less stress, it’s definitely worth it (and it’s tax deductible)
• Unlimited storage
• You can choose what frequency to back up your files (automatic, daily or other scheduled point in time)

If you want to backup your files (even if you don’t have a business you likely having thousands of precious travel or family photos you don’t want to loose) I highly recommend Backblaze.

How BackBlaze Works

1. Purchase a subscription using this link
2. Download the software (only takes a couple of minutes) – the software will live in the start menu of your computer
3. Set the software up to choose what frequency you want to do backups
4. Make sure you have your external hard drives you want files backed up to plugged into your computer about once per week is the recommend but I leave mine always plugged in unless I’m going travelling as otherwise my laptops stay on my desk.
5. It’ll automatically back up all your photos, videos etc. files, and you

It literally took all of 5 minutes between purchasing the software and choosing my settings – super efficient!

This is what the menu looks like. You can set the frequency – always updating, daily etc. by clicking on settings.

I chose to have the software backup my laptop and hard-drives daily at 6pm.

And if you’re worried about battery power (I have not noticed a difference in how long my battery lasts), you can disable automatic backups when you’re power is running low:

You can also set up reminders. I chose for a reminder if I haven’t backed up my files in the last 7 days:

I was worried this kind of software would slow down my computer, especially when I have a lot of programs running including Photoshop, Chrome, Firefox, word documents, excel documents etc. but I don’t even notice it’s there – my computer functions exactly as it did before I purchased the software – awesome!

Related: the software I use to create all my printables 

What happens if your computer crashes?

You can access backups by logging into your account (online).

If you lose your computer or it’s stolen, you can download a copy of all of your files (or have them mailed to you on a USB and if you send it back within 30 days they’ll refund the cost), so even though you may have lost your computer 🙁 you can still get your precious files back!

When I purchase something I always do extensive research to make sure I’m getting the best deal. If you don’t believe me, you can compare pricing of Backlaze to other storage providers here. I did look at more popular file storage programs like Dropbox, but they are extremely expensive if you have a lot of files (hundreds of dollars/month!)

If you want to back up your precious files as well, you can sign up for Backblaze here.

The above links are my affiliate links. When you purchase through my link I receive a small commission for referring you (at no extra cost to you!) – thank you for supporting my business!